Hence it comes that weSometimes don't feel alighting on our framesThe clinging dust, or chalk that settles soft;Nor mists of night, nor spider's gossamerWe feel against us, when, upon our road,Its net entangles us, nor on our headThe dropping of its withered garmentings;Nor bird-feathers, nor vegetable down,Flying about, so light they barely fall;Nor feel the steps of every crawling thing,Nor each of all those footprints on our skinOf midges and the like. To that degreeMust many primal germs be stirred in usEre once the seeds of soul that through our frameAre intermingled 'gin to feel that thosePrimordials of the body have been strook,And ere, in pounding with such gaps between,They clash, combine and leap apart in turn.But mind is more the keeper of the gates,Hath more dominion over life than soul.For without intellect and mind there's notOne part of soul can rest within our frameLeast part of time; companioning, it goesWith mind into the winds away, and leavesThe icy members in the cold of death.But he whose mind and intellect abideHimself abides in life. However muchThe trunk be mangled, with the limbs lopped off,The soul withdrawn and taken from the limbs,Still lives the trunk and draws the vital air.Even when deprived of all but all the soul,Yet will it linger on and cleave to life,-Just as the power of vision still is strong,If but the pupil shall abide unharmed,Even when the eye around it's sorely rent-Provided only thou destroyest notWholly the ball, but, cutting round the pupil,Leavest that pupil by itself behind-For more would ruin sight. But if that centre,That tiny part of eye, be eaten through,Forthwith the vision fails and darkness comes,Though in all else the unblemished ball be clear.'Tis by like compact that the soul and mindAre each to other bound forevermore.
nam neque pulveris inter dum sentimus adhaesumcorpore nec membris incussam sidere cretam,nec nebulam noctu neque arani tenvia filaobvia sentimus, quando obretimur euntes,nec supera caput eiusdem cecidisse vietamvestem nec plumas avium papposque volantis,qui nimia levitate cadunt plerumque gravatim,nec repentis itum cuiusvis cumque animantissentimus nec priva pedum vestigia quaeque,corpore quae in nostro culices et cetera ponunt.usque adeo prius est in nobis multa ciendumquam primordia sentiscant concussa animai,semina corporibus nostris inmixta per artus,et quam in his intervallis tuditantia possintconcursare coire et dissultare vicissim.Et magis est animus vitai claustra coërcenset dominantior ad vitam quam vis animai.nam sine mente animoque nequit residere per artustemporis exiguam partem pars ulla animai,sed comes insequitur facile et discedit in auraset gelidos artus in leti frigore linquit.at manet in vita cui mens animusque remansit,quamvis est circum caesis lacer undique membris;truncus adempta anima circum membrisque remotavivit et aetherias vitalis suscipit auras;si non omnimodis, at magna parte animaiprivatus, tamen in vita cunctatur et haeret;ut, lacerato oculo circum si pupula mansitincolumis, stat cernundi vivata potestas,dum modo ne totum corrumpas luminis orbemet circum caedas aciem solamque relinquas;id quoque enim sine pernicie non fiet eorum.at si tantula pars oculi media illa peresa est,occidit extemplo lumen tenebraeque secuntur,incolumis quamvis alioqui splendidus orbis.hoc anima atque animus vincti sunt foedere semper.
Now come: that thou mayst able be to knowThat minds and the light souls of all that liveHave mortal birth and death, I will go onVerses to build meet for thy rule of life,Sought after long, discovered with sweet toil.But under one name I'd have thee yoke them both;And when, for instance, I shall speak of soul,Teaching the same to be but mortal, thinkThereby I'm speaking also of the mind-Since both are one, a substance inter-joined.First, then, since I have taught how soul existsA subtle fabric, of particles minute,Made up from atoms smaller much than thoseOf water's liquid damp, or fog, or smoke,So in mobility it far excels,More prone to move, though strook by lighter causeEven moved by images of smoke or fog-As where we view, when in our sleeps we're lulled,The altars exhaling steam and smoke aloft-For, beyond doubt, these apparitions comeTo us from outward. Now, then, since thou seest,Their liquids depart, their waters flow away,When jars are shivered, and since fog and smokeDepart into the winds away, believeThe soul no less is shed abroad and diesMore quickly far, more quickly is dissolvedBack to its primal bodies, when withdrawnFrom out man's members it has gone away.For, sure, if body (container of the sameLike as a jar), when shivered from some cause,And rarefied by loss of blood from veins,Cannot for longer hold the soul, how thenThinkst thou it can be held by any air-A stuff much rarer than our bodies be?
Nunc age, nativos animantibus et mortalisesse animos animasque levis ut noscere possis,conquisita diu dulcique reperta laboredigna tua pergam disponere carmina vita.tu fac utrumque uno subiungas nomine eorumatque animam verbi causa cum dicere pergam,mortalem esse docens, animum quoque dicere credas,qua tenus est unum inter se coniunctaque res est.Principio quoniam tenuem constare minutiscorporibus docui multoque minoribus esseprincipiis factam quam liquidus umor aquaiaut nebula aut fumus —; nam longe mobilitatepraestat et a tenui causa magis icta movetur,quippe ubi imaginibus fumi nebulaeque movetur;quod genus in somnis sopiti ubi cernimus alteexhalare vaporem altaria ferreque fumum;nam procul haec dubio nobis simulacra gerunturænunc igitur quoniam quassatis undique vasisdiffluere umorem et laticem discedere cernis,et nebula ac fumus quoniam discedit in auras,crede animam quoque diffundi multoque perireocius et citius dissolvi in corpora prima,cum semel ex hominis membris ablata recessit;quippe etenim corpus, quod vas quasi constitit eius,cum cohibere nequit conquassatum ex aliqua reac rarefactum detracto sanguine venis,aëre qui credas posse hanc cohiberier ullo,corpore qui nostro rarus magis incohibens sit?
Besides we feel that mind to being comesAlong with body, with body grows and ages.For just as children totter round aboutWith frames infirm and tender, so there followsA weakling wisdom in their minds; and then,Where years have ripened into robust powers,Counsel is also greater, more increasedThe power of mind; thereafter, where alreadyThe body's shattered by master-powers of eld,And fallen the frame with its enfeebled powers,Thought hobbles, tongue wanders, and the mind gives way;All fails, all's lacking at the selfsame time.Therefore it suits that even the soul's dissolved,Like smoke, into the lofty winds of air;Since we behold the same to being comeAlong with body and grow, and, as I've taught,Crumble and crack, therewith outworn by eld.Then, too, we see, that, just as body takesMonstrous diseases and the dreadful pain,So mind its bitter cares, the grief, the fear;Wherefore it tallies that the mind no lessPartaker is of death; for pain and diseaseAre both artificers of death,- as wellWe've learned by the passing of many a man ere now.Nay, too, in diseases of body, often the mindWanders afield; for 'tis beside itself,And crazed it speaks, or many a time it sinks,With eyelids closing and a drooping nod,In heavy drowse, on to eternal sleep;From whence nor hears it any voices more,Nor able is to know the faces hereOf those about him standing with wet cheeksWho vainly call him back to light and life.Wherefore mind too, confess we must, dissolves,Seeing, indeed, contagions of diseaseEnter into the same. Again, O why,When the strong wine has entered into man,And its diffused fire gone round the veins,Why follows then a heaviness of limbs,A tangle of the legs as round he reels,A stuttering tongue, an intellect besoaked,Eyes all aswim, and hiccups, shouts, and brawls,And whatso else is of that ilk?- Why this?-If not that violent and impetuous wineIs wont to confound the soul within the body?But whatso can confounded be and balked,Gives proof, that if a hardier cause got in,'Twould hap that it would perish then, bereavedOf any life thereafter.
Praeterea gigni pariter cum corpore et unacrescere sentimus pariterque senescere mentem.nam vel ut infirmo pueri teneroque vaganturcorpore, sic animi sequitur sententia tenvis.inde ubi robustis adolevit viribus aetas,consilium quoque maius et auctior est animi vis.post ubi iam validis quassatum est viribus aevicorpus et obtusis ceciderunt viribus artus,claudicat ingenium, delirat lingua [labat] mens,omnia deficiunt atque uno tempore desunt.ergo dissolui quoque convenit omnem animainaturam, ceu fumus, in altas aëris auras;quando quidem gigni pariter pariterque videmuscrescere et, [ut] docui, simul aevo fessa fatisci.Huc accedit uti videamus, corpus ut ipsumsuscipere inmanis morbos durumque dolorem,sic animum curas acris luctumque metumque;quare participem leti quoque convenit esse.quin etiam morbis in corporis avius erratsaepe animus; dementit enim deliraque fatur,inter dumque gravi lethargo fertur in altumaeternumque soporem oculis nutuque cadenti;unde neque exaudit voces nec noscere voltusillorum potis est, ad vitam qui revocantescircum stant lacrimis rorantes ora genasque.quare animum quoque dissolui fateare necessest,quandoquidem penetrant in eum contagia morbi;nam dolor ac morbus leti fabricator uterquest,multorum exitio perdocti quod sumus ante.[et quoniam mentem sanari corpus ut aegrum][et pariter mentem sanari corpus inani]denique cor, hominem cum vini vis penetravitacris et in venas discessit diditus ardor,consequitur gravitas membrorum, praepediunturcrura vacillanti, tardescit lingua, madet mens,nant oculi, clamor singultus iurgia gliscunt,et iam cetera de genere hoc quae cumque secuntur,cur ea sunt, nisi quod vehemens violentia viniconturbare animam consuevit corpore in ipso?at quae cumque queunt conturbari inque pediri,significant, paulo si durior insinuaritcausa, fore ut pereant aevo privata futuro.
And, moreover,Often will some one in a sudden fit,As if by stroke of lightning, tumble downBefore our eyes, and sputter foam, and grunt,Blither, and twist about with sinews taut,Gasp up in starts, and weary out his limbsWith tossing round. No marvel, since distractThrough frame by violence of disease.......Confounds, he foams, as if to vomit soul,As on the salt sea boil the billows roundUnder the master might of winds. And nowA groan's forced out, because his limbs are griped,But, in the main, because the seeds of voiceAre driven forth and carried in a massOutwards by mouth, where they are wont to go,And have a builded highway. He becomesMere fool, since energy of mind and soulConfounded is, and, as I've shown, to-riven,Asunder thrown, and torn to pieces allBy the same venom. But, again, where causeOf that disease has faced about, and backRetreats sharp poison of corrupted frameInto its shadowy lairs, the man at firstArises reeling, and gradually comes backTo all his senses and recovers soul.Thus, since within the body itself of manThe mind and soul are by such great diseasesShaken, so miserably in labour distraught,Why, then, believe that in the open air,Without a body, they can pass their life,Immortal, battling with the master winds?And, since we mark the mind itself is cured,Like the sick body, and restored can beBy medicine, this is forewarning tooThat mortal lives the mind. For proper it isThat whosoe'er begins and undertakesTo alter the mind, or meditates to changeAny another nature soever, should addNew parts, or readjust the order given,Or from the sum remove at least a bit.But what's immortal willeth for itselfIts parts be nor increased, nor rearranged,Nor any bit soever flow away:For change of anything from out its boundsMeans instant death of that which was before.Ergo, the mind, whether in sickness fallen,Or by the medicine restored, gives signs,As I have taught, of its mortality.So surely will a fact of truth make head'Gainst errors' theories all, and so shut offAll refuge from the adversary, and routError by two-edged confutation.
Quin etiam subito vi morbi saepe coactusante oculos aliquis nostros, ut fulminis ictu,concidit et spumas agit, ingemit et tremit artus,desipit, extentat nervos, torquetur, anhelatinconstanter, et in iactando membra fatigat,ni mirum quia vis morbi distracta per artusturbat agens animam, spumans [ut] in aequore salsoventorum validis fervescunt viribus undae.exprimitur porro gemitus, quia membra doloreadficiuntur et omnino quod semina vociseliciuntur et ore foras glomerata ferunturqua quasi consuerunt et sunt munita viai.desipientia fit, quia vis animi atque animaiconturbatur et, ut docui, divisa seorsumdisiectatur eodem illo distracta veneno.inde ubi iam morbi reflexit causa, reditquein latebras acer corrupti corporis umor,tum quasi vaccillans primum consurgit et omnispaulatim redit in sensus animamque receptat.haec igitur tantis ubi morbis corpore in ipsoiactentur miserisque modis distracta laborent,cur eadem credis sine corpore in aëre apertocum validis ventis aetatem degere posse?Et quoniam mentem sanari corpus ut aegrumcernimus et flecti medicina posse videmus,id quoque praesagit mortalem vivere mentem.addere enim partis aut ordine traiecere aecumstaut aliquid prosum de summa detrahere hilum,commutare animum qui cumque adoritur et infitaut aliam quamvis naturam flectere quaerit.at neque transferri sibi partis nec tribui vultinmortale quod est quicquam neque defluere hilum;nam quod cumque suis mutatum finibus exit,continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante.ergo animus sive aegrescit, mortalia signamittit, uti docui, seu flectitur a medicina.usque adeo falsae rationi vera videturres occurrere et effugium praecludere euntiancipitique refutatu convincere falsum.Denique saepe hominem paulatim cernimus ireet membratim vitalem deperdere sensum;in pedibus primum digitos livescere et unguis,inde pedes et crura mori, post inde per artusire alios tractim gelidi vestigia leti.scinditur atque animae haec quoniam natura nec unotempore sincera existit, mortalis habendast.quod si forte putas ipsam se posse per artusintrosum trahere et partis conducere in unumatque ideo cunctis sensum diducere membris,at locus ille tamen, quo copia tanta animaicogitur, in sensu debet maiore videri;qui quoniam nusquamst, ni mirum, ut diximus [ante],dilaniata foras dispargitur, interit ergo.quin etiam si iam libeat concedere falsumet dare posse animam glomerari in corpore eorum,lumina qui lincunt moribundi particulatim,mortalem tamen esse animam fateare necessenec refert utrum pereat dispersa per aurasan contracta suis e partibus obbrutescat,quando hominem totum magis ac magis undique sensusdeficit et vitae minus et minus undique restat.
And since the mind is of a man one part,Which in one fixed place remains, like ears,And eyes, and every sense which pilots life;And just as hand, or eye, or nose, apart,Severed from us, can neither feel nor be,But in the least of time is left to rot,Thus mind alone can never be, withoutThe body and the man himself, which seems,As 'twere the vessel of the same- or aughtWhate'er thou'lt feign as yet more closely joined:Since body cleaves to mind by surest bonds.Again, the body's and the mind's live powersOnly in union prosper and enjoy;For neither can nature of mind, alone of selfSans body, give the vital motions forth;Nor, then, can body, wanting soul, endureAnd use the senses. Verily, as the eye,Alone, up-rended from its roots, apartFrom all the body, can peer about at naught,So soul and mind it seems are nothing able,When by themselves. No marvel, because, commixedThrough veins and inwards, and through bones and thews,Their elements primordial are confinedBy all the body, and own no power freeTo bound around through interspaces big,Thus, shut within these confines, they take onMotions of sense, which, after death, thrown outBeyond the body to the winds of air,Take on they cannot- and on this account,Because no more in such a way confined.For air will be a body, be alive,If in that air the soul can keep itself,And in that air enclose those motions allWhich in the thews and in the body itselfA while ago 'twas making. So for this,Again, again, I say confess we must,That, when the body's wrappings are unwound,And when the vital breath is forced without,The soul, the senses of the mind dissolve,-Since for the twain the cause and ground of lifeIs in the fact of their conjoined estate.Once more, since body's unable to sustainDivision from the soul, without decayAnd obscene stench, how canst thou doubt but thatThe soul, uprisen from the body's deeps,Has filtered away, wide-drifted like a smoke,Or that the changed body crumbling fellWith ruin so entire, because, indeed,Its deep foundations have been moved from place,The soul out-filtering even through the frame,And through the body's every winding wayAnd orifice? And so by many meansThou'rt free to learn that nature of the soulHath passed in fragments out along the frame,And that 'twas shivered in the very bodyEre ever it slipped abroad and swam awayInto the winds of air.
Et quoniam mens est hominis pars una locoquefixa manet certo, vel ut aures atque oculi suntatque alii sensus qui vitam cumque gubernant,et vel uti manus atque oculus naresve seorsumsecreta ab nobis nequeunt sentire neque esse,sed tamen in parvo lincuntur tempore tali,sic animus per se non quit sine corpore et ipsoesse homine, illius quasi quod vas esse videtur,sive aliud quid vis potius coniunctius eifingere, quandoquidem conexu corpus adhaeret.Denique corporis atque animi vivata potestasinter se coniuncta valent vitaque fruuntur;nec sine corpore enim vitalis edere motussola potest animi per se natura nec autemcassum anima corpus durare et sensibus uti.scilicet avolsus radicibus ut nequit ullamdispicere ipse oculus rem seorsum corpore toto,sic anima atque animus per se nil posse videtur.ni mirum quia [per] venas et viscera mixtim,per nervos atque ossa tenentur corpore ab omninec magnis intervallis primordia possuntlibera dissultare, ideo conclusa moventursensiferos motus, quos extra corpus in aurasaëris haut possunt post mortem eiecta moveripropterea quia non simili ratione tenentur;corpus enim atque animans erit aër, si cohiberesese anima atque in eos poterit concludere motus,quos ante in nervis et in ipso corpore agebat.quare etiam atque etiam resoluto corporis omnitegmine et eiectis extra vitalibus aurisdissolui sensus animi fateare necessestatque animam, quoniam coniunctast causa duobus.Denique cum corpus nequeat perferre animaidiscidium, quin in taetro tabescat odore,quid dubitas quin ex imo penitusque coortaemanarit uti fumus diffusa animae vis,atque ideo tanta mutatum putre ruinaconciderit corpus, penitus quia mota loco suntfundamenta foras manant animaeque per artusperque viarum omnis flexus, in corpore qui sunt,atque foramina? multimodis ut noscere possisdispertitam animae naturam exisse per artuset prius esse sibi distractam corpore in ipso,quam prolapsa foras enaret in aëris auras.
For never a manDying appears to feel the soul go forthAs one sure whole from all his body at once,Nor first come up the throat and into mouth;But feels it failing in a certain spot,Even as he knows the senses too dissolveEach in its own location in the frame.But were this mind of ours immortal mind,Dying 'twould scarce bewail a dissolution,But rather the going, the leaving of its coat,Like to a snake. Wherefore, when once the bodyHath passed away, admit we must that soul,Shivered in all that body, perished too.Nay, even when moving in the bounds of life,Often the soul, now tottering from some cause,Craves to go out, and from the frame entireLoosened to be; the countenance becomesFlaccid, as if the supreme hour were there;And flabbily collapse the members allAgainst the bloodless trunk- the kind of caseWe see when we remark in common phrase,"That man's quite gone," or "fainted dead away";And where there's now a bustle of alarm,And all are eager to get some hold uponThe man's last link of life. For then the mindAnd all the power of soul are shook so sore,And these so totter along with all the frame,That any cause a little stronger mightDissolve them altogether.- Why, then, doubtThat soul, when once without the body thrust,There in the open, an enfeebled thing,Its wrappings stripped away, cannot endureNot only through no everlasting age,But even, indeed, through not the least of time?Then, too, why never is the intellect,The counselling mind, begotten in the head,The feet, the hands, instead of cleaving stillTo one sole seat, to one fixed haunt, the breast,If not that fixed places be assignedFor each thing's birth, where each, when 'tis create,Is able to endure, and that our framesHave such complex adjustments that no shiftIn order of our members may appear?To that degree effect succeeds to cause,Nor is the flame once wont to be createIn flowing streams, nor cold begot in fire.
Quin etiam finis dum vitae vertitur intra,saepe aliqua tamen e causa labefacta videturire anima ac toto solui de corpore [tota]et quasi supremo languescere tempore voltusmolliaque exsangui cadere omnia [corpore] membra.quod genus est, animo male factum cum perhibeturaut animam liquisse; ubi iam trepidatur et omnesextremum cupiunt vitae reprehendere vinclum;conquassatur enim tum mens animaeque potestasomnis. et haec ipso cum corpore conlabefiunt,ut gravior paulo possit dissolvere causa.Quid dubitas tandem quin extra prodita corpusinbecilla foras in aperto, tegmine dempto,non modo non omnem possit durare per aevom,sed minimum quodvis nequeat consistere tempus?nec sibi enim quisquam moriens sentire videturire foras animam incolumem de corpore toto,nec prius ad iugulum et supera succedere fauces,verum deficere in certa regione locatam;ut sensus alios in parti quemque sua scitdissolui. quod si inmortalis nostra foret mens,non tam se moriens dissolvi conquereretur,sed magis ire foras vestemque relinquere, ut anguis.Denique cur animi numquam mens consiliumquegignitur in capite aut pedibus manibusve, sed unissedibus et certis regionibus omnibus haeret,si non certa loca ad nascendum reddita cuiquesunt, et ubi quicquid possit durare creatumatque ita multimodis partitis artubus esse,membrorum ut numquam existat praeposterus ordo?usque adeo sequitur res rem, neque flamma crearifluminibus solitast neque in igni gignier algor.
Besides, if nature of soul immortal be,And able to feel, when from our frame disjoined,The same, I fancy, must be thought to beEndowed with senses five,- nor is there wayBut this whereby to image to ourselvesHow under-souls may roam in Acheron.Thus painters and the elder race of bardsHave pictured souls with senses so endowed.But neither eyes, nor nose, nor hand, aloneApart from body can exist for soul,Nor tongue nor ears apart. And hence indeedAlone by self they can nor feel nor be.And since we mark the vital sense to beIn the whole body, all one living thing,If of a sudden a force with rapid strokeShould slice it down the middle and cleave in twain,Beyond a doubt likewise the soul itself,Divided, dissevered, asunder will be flungAlong with body. But what severed isAnd into sundry parts divides, indeedAdmits it owns no everlasting nature.We hear how chariots of war, areekWith hurly slaughter, lop with flashing scythesThe limbs away so suddenly that there,Fallen from the trunk, they quiver on the earth,The while the mind and powers of the manCan feel no pain, for swiftness of his hurt,And sheer abandon in the zest of battle:With the remainder of his frame he seeksAnew the battle and the slaughter, nor marksHow the swift wheels and scythes of ravin have draggedOff with the horses his left arm and shield;Nor other how his right has dropped away,Mounting again and on. A third attemptsWith leg dismembered to arise and stand,Whilst, on the ground hard by, the dying footTwitches its spreading toes. And even the head,When from the warm and living trunk lopped off,Keeps on the ground the vital countenanceAnd open eyes, until 't has rendered upAll remnants of the soul. Nay, once again:If, when a serpent's darting forth its tongue,And lashing its tail, thou gettest chance to hewWith axe its length of trunk to many parts,Thou'lt see each severed fragment writhing roundWith its fresh wound, and spattering up the sod,And there the fore-part seeking with the jawsAfter the hinder, with bite to stop the pain.So shall we say that these be souls entireIn all those fractions?- but from that 'twould followOne creature'd have in body many souls.Therefore, the soul, which was indeed but one,Has been divided with the body too:Each is but mortal, since alike is eachHewn into many parts. Again, how oftenWe view our fellow going by degrees,And losing limb by limb the vital sense;First nails and fingers of the feet turn blue,Next die the feet and legs, then o'er the restSlow crawl the certain footsteps of cold death.And since this nature of the soul is torn,Nor mounts away, as at one time, entire,We needs must hold it mortal. But perchanceIf thou supposest that the soul itselfCan inward draw along the frame, and bringIts parts together to one place, and soFrom all the members draw the sense away,Why, then, that place in which such stock of soulCollected is, should greater seem in sense.But since such place is nowhere, for a fact,As said before, 'tis rent and scattered forth,And so goes under. Or again, if nowI please to grant the false, and say that soulCan thus be lumped within the frames of thoseWho leave the sunshine, dying bit by bit,Still must the soul as mortal be confessed;Nor aught it matters whether to wrack it go,Dispersed in the winds, or, gathered in a massFrom all its parts, sink down to brutish death,Since more and more in every region senseFails the whole man, and less and less of lifeIn every region lingers.
Praeterea si inmortalis natura animaistet sentire potest secreta a corpore nostro,quinque, ut opinor, eam faciundum est sensibus auctam.nec ratione alia nosmet proponere nobispossumus infernas animas Acherunte vagare.pictores itaque et scriptorum saecla priorasic animas intro duxerunt sensibus auctas.at neque sorsum oculi neque nares nec manus ipsaesse potest animae neque sorsum lingua neque aures;haud igitur per se possunt sentire neque esse.Et quoniam toto sentimus corpore inessevitalem sensum et totum esse animale videmus,si subito medium celeri praeciderit ictuvis aliqua, ut sorsum partem secernat utramque,dispertita procul dubio quoque vis animaiet discissa simul cum corpore dissicietur.at quod scinditur et partis discedit in ullas,scilicet aeternam sibi naturam abnuit esse.falciferos memorant currus abscidere membrasaepe ita de subito permixta caede calentis,ut tremere in terra videatur ab artubus id quoddecidit abscisum, cum mens tamen atque hominis vismobilitate mali non quit sentire dolorem;et simul in pugnae studio quod dedita mens est,corpore relicuo pugnam caedesque petessit,nec tenet amissam laevam cum tegmine saepeinter equos abstraxe rotas falcesque rapaces,nec cecidisse alius dextram, cum scandit et instat.inde alius conatur adempto surgere crure,cum digitos agitat propter moribundus humi pes.et caput abscisum calido viventeque truncoservat humi voltum vitalem oculosque patentis,donec reliquias animai reddidit omnes.quin etiam tibi si, lingua vibrante, minantiserpentis cauda, procero corpore, utrumquesit libitum in multas partis discidere ferro,omnia iam sorsum cernes ancisa recentivolnere tortari et terram conspargere tabo,ipsam seque retro partem petere ore priorem,volneris ardenti ut morsu premat icta dolore.omnibus esse igitur totas dicemus in illisparticulis animas? at ea ratione sequeturunam animantem animas habuisse in corpore multas.ergo divisast ea quae fuit una simul cumcorpore; quapropter mortale utrumque putandumst,in multas quoniam partis disciditur aeque.
And besides,If soul immortal is, and winds its wayInto the body at the birth of man,Why can we not remember something, then,Of life-time spent before? why keep we notSome footprints of the things we did of, old?But if so changed hath been the power of mind,That every recollection of things doneIs fallen away, at no o'erlong removeIs that, I trow, from what we mean by death.Wherefore 'tis sure that what hath been beforeHath died, and what now is is now create.Moreover, if after the body hath been builtOur mind's live powers are wont to be put in,Just at the moment that we come to birth,And cross the sills of life, 'twould scarcely fitFor them to live as if they seemed to growAlong with limbs and frame, even in the blood,But rather as in a cavern all alone.(Yet all the body duly throngs with sense.)But public fact declares against all this:For soul is so entwined through the veins,The flesh, the thews, the bones, that even the teethShare in sensation, as proven by dull ache,By twinge from icy water, or grating crunchUpon a stone that got in mouth with bread.Wherefore, again, again, souls must be thoughtNor void of birth, nor free from law of death;Nor, if, from outward, in they wound their way,Could they be thought as able so to cleaveTo these our frames, nor, since so interwove,Appears it that they're able to go forthUnhurt and whole and loose themselves unscathedFrom all the thews, articulations, bones.But, if perchance thou thinkest that the soul,From outward winding in its way, is wontTo seep and soak along these members ours,Then all the more 'twill perish, being thusWith body fused- for what will seep and soakWill be dissolved and will therefore die.For just as food, dispersed through all the poresOf body, and passed through limbs and all the frame,Perishes, supplying from itself the stuffFor other nature, thus the soul and mind,Though whole and new into a body going,Are yet, by seeping in, dissolved away,Whilst, as through pores, to all the frame there passThose particles from which created isThis nature of mind, now ruler of our body,Born from that soul which perished, when dividedAlong the frame.
Praeterea si inmortalis natura animaiconstat et in corpus nascentibus insinuatur,cur super ante actam aetatem meminisse nequimusnec vestigia gestarum rerum ulla tenemus?nam si tanto operest animi mutata potestas,omnis ut actarum exciderit retinentia rerum,non, ut opinor, id ab leto iam longius errat;qua propter fateare necessest quae fuit anteinteriisse, et quae nunc est nunc esse creatam.Praeterea si iam perfecto corpore nobisinferri solitast animi vivata potestastum cum gignimur et vitae cum limen inimus,haud ita conveniebat uti cum corpore et unacum membris videatur in ipso sanguine cresse,sed vel ut in cavea per se sibi vivere solamconvenit, ut sensu corpus tamen affluat omne.quare etiam atque etiam neque originis esse putandumstexpertis animas nec leti lege solutas;nam neque tanto opere adnecti potuisse putandumstcorporibus nostris extrinsecus insinuatas,quod fieri totum contra manifesta docet resænamque ita conexa est per venas viscera nervosossaque, uti dentes quoque sensu participentur;morbus ut indicat et gelidai stringor aquaiet lapis oppressus subitis e frugibus asperænec, tam contextae cum sint, exire videnturincolumes posse et salvas exsolvere seseomnibus e nervis atque ossibus articulisque,quod si forte putas extrinsecus insinuatampermanare animam nobis per membra solere,tanto quique magis cum corpore fusa peribit;quod permanat enim, dissolvitur, interit ergo;dispertitur enim per caulas corporis omnis.ut cibus, in membra atque artus cum diditur omnis,disperit atque aliam naturam sufficit ex se,sic anima atque animus quamvis [est] integra recens [in]corpus eunt, tamen in manando dissoluuntur,dum quasi per caulas omnis diduntur in artusparticulae quibus haec animi natura creatur,quae nunc in nostro dominatur corpore nataex illa quae tunc periit partita per artus.
Wherefore it seems that soulHath both a natal and funeral hour.Besides are seeds of soul there left behindIn the breathless body, or not? If there they are,It cannot justly be immortal deemed,Since, shorn of some parts lost, 'thas gone away:But if, borne off with members uncorrupt,'Thas fled so absolutely all awayIt leaves not one remainder of itselfBehind in body, whence do cadavers, then,From out their putrid flesh exhale the worms,And whence does such a mass of living things,Boneless and bloodless, o'er the bloated frameBubble and swarm? But if perchance thou thinkestThat souls from outward into worms can wind,And each into a separate body come,And reckonest not why many thousand soulsCollect where only one has gone away,Here is a point, in sooth, that seems to needInquiry and a putting to the test:Whether the souls go on a hunt for seedsOf worms wherewith to build their dwelling places,Or enter bodies ready-made, as 'twere.But why themselves they thus should do and toil'Tis hard to say, since, being free of body,They flit around, harassed by no disease,Nor cold nor famine; for the body laboursBy more of kinship to these flaws of life,And mind by contact with that body suffersSo many ills. But grant it be for themHowever useful to construct a bodyTo which to enter in, 'tis plain they can't.Then, souls for self no frames nor bodies make,Nor is there how they once might enter inTo bodies ready-made- for they cannotBe nicely interwoven with the same,And there'll be formed no interplay of senseCommon to each.
quapropter neque natali privata videturesse die natura animae nec funeris expers.Semina praeterea linquontur necne animaicorpore in exanimo? quod si lincuntur et insunt,haut erit ut merito inmortalis possit haberi,partibus amissis quoniam libata recessit.sin ita sinceris membris ablata profugit,ut nullas partis in corpore liquerit ex se,unde cadavera rancenti iam viscere vermesexpirant atque unde animantum copia tantaexos et exanguis tumidos perfluctuat artus?quod si forte animas extrinsecus insinuari?vermibus et privas in corpora posse venirecredis nec reputas cur milia multa animarumconveniant unde una recesserit, hoc tamen est utquaerendum videatur et in discrimen agendum,utrum tandem animae venentur semina quaequevermiculorum ipsaeque sibi fabricentur ubi sint,an quasi corporibus perfectis insinuentur.at neque cur faciant ipsae quareve laborentdicere suppeditat. neque enim, sine corpore cum sunt,sollicitae volitant morbis alguque fameque;corpus enim magis his vitiis adfine laborat,et mala multa animus contage fungitur eius.sed tamen his esto quamvis facere utile corpus,cum subeant; at qua possint via nulla videtur.haut igitur faciunt animae sibi corpora et artus.nec tamen est ut qui [cum] perfectis insinuenturcorporibus; neque enim poterunt suptiliter esseconexae neque consensu contagia fient.